Academies and free schools

Fact checks focused on academies and maintained schools

2 August 2018

Are grammar schools facing a crisis of funding?

English grammar schools received around £700 less state funding per pupil than other state schools in 2016/17.

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6 February 2018

Spending on schools in England

Real-terms per pupil funding for schools stayed at roughly the same level from 2010/11 to 2015/16, and fell after that. Since 2017/18 it has flattened out.

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26 May 2017

Academies and maintained schools: what do we know?

A look at the evidence on how academies perform compared to local authority schools.

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24 February 2017

Most, but not all, free schools help meet demand for school places

To set up a free school in England you need to show that there’s parental demand, and either a basic shortage of places or a lack of good school places …

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4 October 2016

How do selective school ratings compare?

A greater proportion of grammar schools are rated “outstanding” or “good” by Ofsted than the proportion of all UK state schools rated in these top two categories.

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20 April 2016

EU immigration, housing and schools: Prime Minister's Questions, factchecked

We've factchecked claims from Prime Minister's Questions on academies, school spending, EU immigration and housing in London.

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18 March 2016

17 March's BBC Question Time, factchecked

We've checked the panel's claims on disability benefits, government borrowing, childhood obesity, and academies.

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16 March 2016

Jobs, pollution, and academies: Prime Minister's Questions, factchecked

We've factchecked claims from Prime Minister's Questions on employment figures, pollution, renewable energy, gun crime, and academies.

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28 April 2015

Clash of the manifestos: the running of academies

Academies, including free schools, are directly accountable to the Secretary of State for Education, while all other state-funded schools are accountable to local authorities.

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